THE PROS:

THE CONS:

We were unable to find information about the brand’s social or environmental supply chain practices. We highlight the missing information in detail under each section. We are reaching out to the brand for comment and information.

/Outdoor Voices states that apparel should last a long time and that it sources high quality materials from trusted factories to ensure this.

/We don’t have any information on how many people the brand employ in its supply chain, how many employees the brand has, how many suppliers the brand uses, lead times, number of garments made annually, how many collections the brand releases annually and annual revenue.

/The brand states that all of its clothing is designed in the Outdoor Voices studio in New York. Outdoor Voices reports that it is currently working with manufacturers in Hong Kong, Portugal, and the United States.

/It is unclear if the brand can trace its entire supply chain.

/The brand does not publicly disclose supplier names and addresses.

/Outdoor Voices states that it sources ‘the highest quality materials from around the world and our trusted partnerships with the best factories in the industry ensure every piece is created with impeccable attention to detail.’

/We don’t have any information on a supplier code of conduct, how the brand addresses child labour, forced and compulsory labour, discrimination, unsafe work conditions, freedom of association, collective bargaining rights, regular excessive overtime, and freedom of movement for workers at supplier facilities, and whether or not supplier recruitment fees are prohibited.

/We don’t have any information on how the brand addresses supplier labor violations (including child and forced labor), how the brand ensures workers are paid for hours worker if it ends its relationship with a supplier, a dispute resolution mechanism, a grievance mechanism, if the brand has local partnerships in place in high-risk areas to rehabilitate child or forced laborers when found, if when child or forced labour is removed from the workplace it is later verified by unannounced monitoring, whether or not the brand finds a way to provide for the child’s education and replace lost income to the family when child labour is discovered, and whether or not the brand facilitates an individual’s reintegration into the labour market if forced labour is discovered.

/The brand does not publicly share any policy against the use of cotton sourced from Uzbekistan in its products.

/We don’t have any information on animal welfare policies, whether or not the brand uses renewable energy at any stage of its supply chain, if the brand has measured its carbon footprint, what the brand is doing to reduce its carbon footprint, if the brand has measured the water footprint of its supply chain, what the brand is doing to reduce its water footprint, what the brand doing to ensure the proper treatment of water before it is returned to local waterways, and policies that are in place to limit the use of hazardous chemicals.

/We don’t have any information on policies in place to reduce pollution and resources used for transport, whether or not the brand has a sustainable packaging policy, waste management policies, recycling policies, and a product take back recycling scheme.

/The brand does not share any goals regarding how it is working to improve environmental and social conditions in its supply chain. Do you know of any?

/The brand does not publicly disclose that it is a part of any multi stakeholder initiatives to improve the social and environmental impact of its supply chain.

/We don’t have any information on any corporate social responsibility initiatives that the brand is a part of.

/We don’t have any information on how much the CEO is paid.

/There are no reported management scandals or issues.

/In October 2014, Fashionista reported that in 2014, J.Crew started selling Outdoor Voices — a partnership that has since been discontinued as the younger brand looks to build a name for itself separate from the J.Crew umbrella.

/Outdoor Voices has not reported investing in any sustainability related innovations.

VOICES

KIM BHASIN | BUSINESS OF FASHION

Haney is going after those who are more interested in taking a hike than pumping iron at the gym. “We talk a lot about our customer as someone who’s active but not defined by it,” she said. She calls them “recreational athletes.” – 10/14/2015

VIVIENNE DECKER | FORBES

Outdoor Voices lives by tenet that “doing things is better than not doing things,” a simple motto that derived from one of the Outdoor Voices weekly team activities. – 09/24/2015

2 thoughts on “Outdoor Voices”

I agree with the comment above, this brand is in need of an update. They also state that “Currently, we manufacture in the US, China and Vietnam”, not Hong Kong, Portugal and the US. I would love to see their current responses to some of these questions as there has been some major changes in the textile industry since 2 years ago.